Vertically integrated lithium technology company Empower EIT has commissioned its new 17 000 square foot Dallas Operations & Innovation Centre, in the US, as the company works towards first commercial sales in 2027.

The company is building a fully domestic, end-to-end lithium supply chain.

Leveraging its proprietary direct lithium extraction (DLE) and conversion technology, the company processes extracted lithium chloride and converts it into battery-grade lithium carbonate.

“We are well positioned to meet our goal of first commercial sales in 2027 as we focus on asset acquisition, evaluating and testing additional US mineral assets, strategic capital partnerships and offtake partnerships," says Empower EIT CEO Patrick Dowling.

The most recent processing involved five campaigns that produced battery-grade lithium carbonate from eluate representing 40 000 gallons of brine each, which extended the company's proven capabilities from multiple domestic brine resources in previous trials.

All five campaigns were sent for independent third-party testing, which verified that Empower EIT consistently produces battery-grade lithium carbonate at 99.68% to 99.91% purity.

Empower EIT has also expanded its executive leadership team with Jim Chaney joining the company as senior adviser. Chaney has more than 40 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, most recently with Hunt Oil.

“With our Dallas Operations & Innovation Center fully commissioned and the addition of Chaney rounding out our leadership team, we’ve achieved two important milestones on our path to commercialisation,” Dowling explains.

As Empower EIT continues to progress toward commercialisation, Chaney will play a critical role in advancing the company’s reservoir strategy, technical diligence and integration of subsurface expertise across its expanding energy and lithium portfolio.

“Empower EIT’s combination of differentiating technology, experienced leadership and strategic commercialisation roadmap positions the company as a fully domestic, vertically integrated lithium platform,” Chaney says.

Meanwhile, third-party testing has validated Empower EIT’s proprietary DLE and conversion technology, demonstrating the company’s ability to execute the complete lithium processing value chain, from the field to the finished product.

In addition to the full processing of brine through DLE to battery-grade lithium carbonate, the Dallas Operations & Innovation Center is equipped with an environmental lab to support resource owners in brine testing, resource validation and the design of lithium recovery systems from bench through field-deployable systems.

“The commissioning of our Dallas Operations & Innovation Center represents the culmination of more than a decade of research, development and technical optimisation. Combined with the field deployments to date, this validates that our technology is ready to support commercial deployment,” says Empower EIT CTO Preston McEachern.

"We are ready to help additional resource owners unlock value through resource validation, efficient processing and conversion to battery-grade materials, and technology partnerships," he adds.

As demand for battery-grade materials continues to grow to support domestic energy storage and electrification, Empower EIT is committed to strengthening the domestic critical minerals supply chain by providing an integrated, fully US-based lithium processing solution.

Empower EIT has also shipped battery-grade lithium carbonate to a confidential offtake partner for final evaluation.